Hey there!

So Lucy has found a new way to sit in her swing...it makes me laugh...

I'm pretty sure the look on her face is something a long the lines of "But Mom, alllll the cool kids are doing it!"
Saturday Night I took my youth group black-light bowling, it was fun, we laughed tons and I got some supper silly pictures that make me smile!
Sunday I had a mission trip meeting. In April we are hosting a "Thank You luncheon" followed by a dessert Auction- We are going to be auctioning off various desserts. One of the parents had a great idea to get the sports fans into it by seeing which team Cardinals vs. Cubs could raise the most money- we'll be auctioning off sugar cookies that are cubs/cardinals related. We're hoping this will "capitalize" on our churches sporty-competitive side :)
And I'm feeling rather ambitious. I'm going to make Easter Cupcakes. Seriously, they will have bunny shaped peeps sitting atop grassy green coconut icing, nests with robin eggs nestled in them and I'm hoping to find some candy sheep to have grazing on some yummy grass icing too :) Ambitious? Yes! Doable? I sure hope so! I'm also going to make chocolate chip cookies with oreos inside them. Two cookies in one? Yes! Amazingly delicious?! YES, YES!

This friday I'm taking my youth group to St. Charles, MO for Winter Jam! I'm super excited! Good music + good people = Amazing time!
Well, I better get going, I hope you all have enjoyed your weekend! I'm hoping to be able to have something fun to share with you all tomorrow! I guess it really depends on how ambitious I feel!

I'm a slacker!

Oh it's been a busy couple of days, sorry I haven't posted much lately! So what have we been up to?
Well tuesday Lucy started pushing her butt in the air while laying on her tummy :) once she figures out her arms that girl is going to be unstoppable!

sorry it's blurry it was the best I could get!

Tyler was giving Lucy a bath last night and he sat her up in the tub, she loooooved it!

She was going splash crazy! and loved snuggling with daddy! It was a heart melting moment for this momma!
Anyway, we've just been busy with work and all that crazy stuff. I've got a new bedroom makeover dream! I don't know if I'd ever be able to talk Tyler into it but...

 I found this on this wonderful Blog and it made me want to do that to the wall in my bedroom that my bed is against. I love the rustic look and the fact that she did it for free using old pallets boards! Hey a girl can dream right? Who knows maybe I can convince him that it would look awesome?!

Random fact: last night I made pancakes and my entire house smells like them still. I love pancakes but I don't love them so much that I want to smell them for days afterward.

Hope you have a happy weekend! I'll see you Monday and I've got some fun new recipes I'm excited to try so hopefully I'll have some to share with you!

Spring/Easter Wreath

So I've been itching to make something to hang on our door for easter/spring! Yesterday I got some cute "faux" daisey's. I had an old christmas wreath that was in desperate need of a new life so I took the garland off of it and attached my daisey's! It's super simple and there isn't much too it but I'm loving the bright colors!

There you can see the old wreath it was just covered in garland and had a bow, it's been the same for sevvvveral years so it was time for a make over!

What do you think? I'm loving it because it works for more than just easter, it's very springy and bright! Now I just have to wait to plant flowers outside!

Lucy and I've been spending the day together and I made this while she was napping. She's waking up so I better get going! Happy Tuesday!

"Hello Stefanie, This is God."

Oh it's been one of those days...the kind where God decides to teach you a valuable lesson. What lesson is that? Irony is cruel.

My pastor asked me to give the children's message today in church, I happily agreed. He then told me, I'll be discussing God and the Tsunami. First thought that ran through my mind: are you friggin serious? How do I even come close to explaining the Tsunami and why bad things happen to preschool aged children? Through the object lesson of pearls of course. Do you know how pearls are made? 
Well oysters get grains of sand stuck in them sometimes. It's very painful and the oysters can't do much to make it go away so, they ooze this gooey stuff that coats the sand over and over until it turns into a beautiful pearl. bingo. Do bad things happen in our live's because God wants them to? No! They happen because satan is in the world warring against God. We can't just get the bad out of our lives right? Nope, God gives us some stuff to ooze into our hearts just like the pearl- His love. He takes the bad and over time keeps coating it and turns it into something beautiful that is used for His glory.
Now, how is this irony? Because I just spent the past 15 minutes whining in a blog update about what I am unhappy about. (Don't worry, I deleted it.) When God's irony blasted me full in the face.

"Hey, what did you talk about this morning? I promise to be with you and give you strength. You are the one not coming to me."

Now, I've always imagined God's voice as a "James Earl Jones" kinda voice but this one wasn't. It was God's heart mixing with my inner voice yelling at me to wake up and smell the roses.
How many times have I felt like giving up? How many times have I been frustrated and broken only to come back to God and have Him take care of me and provide for me. How many times have I backed away from Him and blamed Him? Too many that's how many.

So, tonight as I'm angry, frustrated, lonely and hurting, I want to encourage you to find your strength in God and not in friends, family, your self, etc. His strength over powers anything we could ever imagine. I know God will get me through all the worries I have, I just have to let Him.

Leprechauns and Spring Cleaning!

Here's a few pictures of my adorable daughter she's really started getting into laughing so enjoy the following pictures of Tyler making her laugh:

pre laughter face

laughter!

oh it's so funny daddy!

I can't take it!

 Annnd our leprechaun!

our little Leprechaun

right before our first walk!

napping with daddy after dinner

 Oh we've had a couple of really good days. Lucy and I got to go for a walk yesterday. Wednesday Tyler had her laughing up a storm and it was just wonderful! Today I got off work early since I'm working some tomorrow and I'm attempting to deep clean the house. So far I've been tackling the dog area- steam moping the floor, washing off all the kennels, vacuuming up dog hair, and wiping down the walls with vinegar water. Seriously- vinegar water is the best- I even put it in my steam mop. If you're worried about your paint on the walls or anything just use a little vinegar water and it cleans it right up- doesn't always have the greatest smell but it's safe and chemical free and we always have vinegar, we don't always have the right cleaning products!

hope you all have a great weekend! I'm looking forward to ours, hopefully we'll get some good relaxing time in and some cleaning done!

Lucy's 1st Marriage Proposal!

Okay so I completely forgot about this story when I was writing my update earlier but it has been making me giggle all morning so I've got to share it with you!

Last night, at youth group, one of my 6th grade students- Richie- who is the quintessential 12 year old boy who doesn't know what an inside voice is, has temporary boy/age induced A.D.D. and has a need to be at the center of attention decided to ask me a question...here's how it went:

Me: Okay, Prayer requests, Richie, do you have any?
Richie: No, but I do have a question.
Me: (internal sigh because you never know what kind of question you're going to get, I was expecting a smart alec comment similar to "Where do babies come from?") Okay, Make it quick.
Richie: May I have your daughters hand in marriage? (keep in mind he said this with complete seriousness)
Connor (another one of my students): What?! She's a baby, you're a creep!
Richie: But she's cute! (cue awkwardly innocent smile (it's awkward because he's rarely innocent!)
Me: Well, you'll have to talk to Tyler about that one (I say this while trying to hold in my laughter)
Richie: Really? Ok!
Richie turns around a looks at Tyler: Hey! Tyler?
Tyler: Yeah?
Richie: May I have your daughters hand in marriage?
Tyler: (looking rather dumbfounded for a second quickly recovers from shock) No. (He is very clearly trying to stifle his laughter at this point too.)
Richie: Aww, dang.
Kabe (Another one of my students): Don't worry Tyler, when she's old enough to date, I'll come over and we can scar the poo out of any boys who try to date her, heck, any boys who even look at her!

So, there you have it, my poor daughter is going to grow up having many many many older brothers who will be uber over protective against the ones who ask for her hand in marriage!

Top Chef Inspirations!

Oh I've been trying to figure out what to make for dinner all morning. I feel like my brain is fried and I'm just tired. And honestly, I really truly wish I could just ask Tyler to order a pizza tonight...I might. Our lives have been way too hectic lately and it will be nice to finally have sometime to relax.

I watched Top Chef yesterday! It seriously makes me wish I had more cooking skills and liked to eat weird foods. It also makes me envy the fact that they get to make so much stuff from fresh produce, meat, etc. How much more delicious would our meals be if I could make everything from scratch? I'm serious, Richard Blais made homemade mayonnaise and then froze it in nitrogen and then fried it along with other stuff all in a matter of 40mins. Who does that? I realize they are running around like nuts making it all but seriously that show makes me wish I could cook like that. Oh yes, I realize I probably could but I'm not ambitious enough. Although it has helped me realize I should pre-plan my menus so I can actually make the stuff I'd like to instead of saying: oh shoot, we don't have anything other then two required ingredients for that.

Okay, I realize my food will NEVER end up looking like that...and honestly when I see their plates of food it makes me wonder if people actually get remotely close to full after eating it or if it's actually a decent serving size on the worlds largest plate.
I won't lie, part of me wishes I could do the whole cook through a cookbook thing like the movie Julie and Julia however, I'm not that ambitious and I probably wouldn't want to eat half the stuff I find. But, my goal is going to be to try a new recipe once a week. Something from out of a cookbook, suggestion from family or friends, etc. that will hopefully become a new family favorite. I feel like I cook so much of the same stuff that I need to really try and stretch myself.
So my new goals: cook something new once a week and plan my menu in advance so I can get the necessary groceries for all the things I'd like to make!
Do you have any recipes you haven't been brave enough to try? Want me to give them a shot and see if they are worth the effort? let me know what they are and I'll let you know how "do-able" it is!

Fajitas, Cookies and Smoothies!

Oh dinner last night was yummy but I wasn't completely happy I used McCormick's Fajitas Seasoning Mix but it felt like it was missing something. I'd really like to find a recipe that is better. So if you have a good one, let me know! I used some left over roast meat and it worked great.

Here's what McCormick suggests to make Fajitas:

1pkg seasoning mix
2 tbsp oil, divided
1lb boneless skinless chicken breasts or boneless beef sirloin cut into 1/2 strips- I used shredded pork roast
1 medium onion- I skipped this, we aren't onion people haha!
1 medium bell pepper
1/4 cup water
8 flour tortillas
Heat 1 tbsp oil in large skillet on medium-high heat. Add meat, cook and stir 3mins or until no longer pink. Remove from skillet, heat remaining tbsp oil. Add onion and pepper, cook and stir 3-5mins return meat to skillet.
stir in water and seasoning mix. Cook and stir 3 mins or until heated through.
Spoon into warm tortillas and serve with toppings desired. (We use sour cream, cheese and salsa.)

So of course, Tyler begged for some good ol' classic chocolate chip cookies so here's my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe:
2 1/4 cups all purpouse flour
1tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
12 oz pkg chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts- optional
Preheat oven to 375
Stir together flour, baking soda, and salt. Beat butter, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl until creamy, add eggs, beat well. Graduaally add flour mixture, beating well, stir in chocolate chips and drop by rounded teaspoons onto cookie sheet
bake 8-10 mins or until lightly browned.

mmmmm dough!

he is a dork but, I love him!

And this morning I decided to try out making a smoothie- it's super easy and really good!
Blend 2/3 cup fresh or frozen berries- I used frozen strawberries
1/2 cup yogurt
1 banana
1/2 cup orange juice or 1 orange
2-3 ice cubes

It turned out much better then I expected! A great summer snack or breakfast food!

And in other news, Lucy laughed for the first time yesterday! Not just her normal giggle but a real all out hearty laugh! It was the best sound I've ever heard!
Which means that Tyler and I spent the remainder of the evening trying to get her to laugh again when all she would do is look at us like were were nuts! One of these days we will figure out how to get her to laugh heartily again!

Well, I now have spit up running down my arm so I better go get cleaned up, Lucy says hi! (she's sitting on my lap while I type)

Our Weekend!

Oh it was a good/busy weekend.
Friday night, Tyler and I went to see Larry the Cable Guy, Jeff Foxworthy, and Bill Engval. It was really funny, we laughed a lot. We headed into St. Louis and took the metro over to union station. We almost ate at the super fancy seafood place but the wait was too long and we didn't want to be late so we then tried Hard Rock cafe, same thing and we ended up having quizno's in the food court there. I laughed that we went from super fancy to your food on a tray. But it was fun none the less and I made Tyler promise me that someday we will get to eat at that super fancy sea food place! (I LOVE seafood and we don't get to eat it very often...my tummy longs for some lobster!)
Saturday Lucy and I spent most of the day at home relaxing and doing some cleaning and then that night we went to a trivia night thing with several of our friends to help Tyler's little brother earn some money for his baseball team. We felt pretty dumb afterwards but laughed at the fact that the Nickelodeon round we won all ten points while the "older" teams missed out on several of them!
Sunday was busy with church as usual but it was nice. Tyler and I ended up going to bed around 9:30, it was great, I've been super tired lately.
And today, it snowed! How crazy is that?! Seriously, it's supposed to be 60 degrees here tomorrow and it snowed all morning. Craziness.
Anyway, I better go pick up Lucy from daycare! I'll share with you tomorrow what I make for dinner tonight! I've got several recipes I'm looking forward to trying out!

Dinner and a Recipe!

Dinner was good last night! I love using my crock pot, seriously it is one of the best things ever!
I made Ranch Roast, Corn Fritters, Green Beans and no-bake cookies (the last at Tyler's request!)
The roast:

Simply take a roast and put it in the crock pot, add a bit of water and pour one pack of ranch seasoning over it! (Adrien gave me this idea in my earlier recipe request post!) It's great!
Corn Fritters:
Seriously, my mom used to make these and we loooved them. I think it was another one of her ways to secretly sneak vegetables into our food when we weren't in the mood to eat them:

Corn Fritters:
1 Small can of corn
1 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs beaten
2 tsp baking powder
sift dry ingredients together, add eggs, milk, and corn. Drop into oil to fry and salt to taste

They are super easy and a nice change from fries, mashed potatoes, etc!
The green beans were from a bag of frozen ones but I added some Montreal Steak seasoning to them- gives a bit of flavor without having to add salt and pepper!
Lucy was my cooking assistant, she was pretty cute!:

And because Tyler and I have a serious sweet tooth problem I made some no-bake cookies!

No Bake Cookies:
2 cups sugar
 1/2 cup cocoa
1 stick butter
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups quick-cooking oatmeal
1/2 cup peanut butter
Combine sugar, cocoa, butter, and milk in a sauce pan. On medium heat, bring to a boil for one minute.
Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter, vanilla and oatmeal.
Drop by spoonful onto wax paper (I use foil). Let cool approx 30 mins!

So there you have it! My first Lenten night of cooking! Hope you enjoy the recipes! And please, if you have any suggestions on different things to make let me know! I'd love to try them out!

My Lenten Journey- Day 1

Okay I love lent, I'm not hard core about it but I like to celebrate it in different areas of my life: spiritual and personal. I don't like to give things up because it never really works that well and after all it is about getting your focus on the death and resurrection of Christ. So instead I work toward doing something positive and making new good habits!
My spiritual goal this year is to become more dedicated at doing my devotions. I've been a big ol' slacker ever since Lucy was born. I've not been able to focus on them quite like I should so, that's my spiritual goal- get back in touch with God.
And my personal goal- is to cook every night we are home- sunday's we do dinner at Tyler's parents as a tradition and wednesdays we have dinner at church. So, unless I'm gone for something going on with our family I'll be cookin'!
Tonight's menu includes:
ranch roast, corn fritters, and green beans.
I'm seriously loving my crockpot:

the roast cookin'!

my sous chef! she's very demanding and picky about flavors! ;)

So there you have it, my "new years resolutions" are always done during Lent! I'll keep you posted on my cooking and sometimes you might even get a devotional if one I've been doing really stands out!
Do you all do anything for lent?

It's been awhile...

Oh life has been so darn busy I haven't had much of a chance to blog!
Last week, Friday, I went to a youth pastors conference in Chicago which was awesome. There's nothing like worshiping with 3,000 other Christians at the very same moment! I got back  Monday night and got to spend yesterday with Tyler and Lucy. Today was pretty busy at work and now, I'm finally catching a few bits of free time while Lucy takes her evening cat nap. Tyler has to work tonight so Lucy and I are hanging out and going to the Ash Wednesday Service at church.
I'm just glad to finally be home for a little while. It's been way too busy for my liking...
Lucy turned four months old on Monday so this post is for her!
My dearest Lucy,
You have grown so much this past month. Tuesday you went to the doctor for a check up and weighed 12.4lbs and were 24 1/2inches long. You're getting so big already! You love bright colors, oranges, yellows, and reds are your favorites. I think it's because they stand out so much. You have been eating six ounces every 3.5-4 hours and you sleep through the night. Sunday you got to stay at grandma and grandpa's for the first time by yourself. They loved having you visit but Grandpa said he woke up about four times in the night checking on you because you were so quiet he was nervous! You are starting to giggle and you smile lots! You love talking with daddy, he always makes you smile bunches! You loooove to talk! Daddy keeps trying to get you to say dada but you just coo at him and he laughs! You don't take very long naps during the day, you like to cat nap but goodness you sure do sleep good at night! You usually go to bed around 8-9 and sleep until 7-8. You LOVE playing with your feet! You can't keep your hands off your feet when you wear bright colored socks that have stripes or dots! You love to jump in your jumperoo! Your legs and arms are constantly going and going! Here are some pictures of you at 4 months:

sitting on the couch like a big girl!

you love your jumperoo!

tummy time!

Your daddy and I love you so very much. You mean the world to us!
Love always,
Mommy

Game Time!

 I thought I'd do something fun for this post! I'm going to list off several truths and one lie. Whoever can guess which one is the lie will get a mystery prize sent to them! (You'll want this I promise!) So NEXT Wednesday, the 9th I will choose a winner! Make sure you post your guesses! If people guess the same right answer I will draw a random winner from the correct guesses!
1. My favorite book series is "Harry Potter." I am beyond excited to share these books with my kids someday, watching their excitement and anticipation!

2. I have never made a pie.

3. I used to dream when I was little that I would become a famous gymnast. Every time I watched the olympics as a kid I dreamed that I could do flips and jumps and crazy stuff. But I only lasted in gymnastics class like three weeks before I pulled a muscle and had to quit.

4. I have a love/hate relationship with the idea of one day owning a kindle/or whatever similar thing it is. I would love to be able to take a thousand books with me everywhere I go without actually having to carry them but, I love being able to crack open a new book and just smell the pages, yes I know this is odd.

5. I love to bake. I don't really like cooking that much but, I loooove to bake. I would love to own a bakery/coffee shop. It would be a dream come true but, I'd probably end up weighing 1,000lbs because of it.

6. Tyler and I already have our names picked out for our next child.

7. I have about 5 friends that I actually talk to.

8. I have an insane fear of heights. My dad asked me to help clean off the garage roof of leaves and tree limbs once and I cried when I got up there until he finally let me get down.

9. I've only ever been on 3 real roller coasters. I freak out at the thought of them and I only go when absolutely forced.

10. I only use one eye at a time. When I was little I never learned how to focus with both eyes at the same time so, I have one dominate eye- the right eye.

One Debt Down, 4 to go!

Okay there is some seriously exciting stuff happening in the Montgomery house today!
Item number one: We are paying off our car! No more car payment!! Woohoo!
Item number two: We are paying off a portion of my student loan taking the principal down significantly!
Item number three: We are paying back a portion of our start up costs for Tyler's business!
and of course making another house payment (we're totally on the road to paying this one off too!)
I'm beyond excited about this. We are conquering our debts and believe it or not our goal is to be debt free by the time we are 30. Ambitious? YES. Doable? YES YES!
We are excited!

In other news, I got a fortune cookie last night when Tyler and I went out for Chinese that said I would be meeting someone new who would end up becoming a good friend. I don't really go for all the astrology, fortune cookie crap but it made me smile and reminded me that God can bring new people into our lives when we need them and on the friend front, I'm hurting.It seems like no one really has time or anything anymore and we're all on different life stages...I'm the first of my friends that I still talk to to get married and have a baby. I miss having friends I have things in common with...

I love when I can look at Lucy and smile and say hi. She gets the biggest grin on her face.
However, right now she's not too happy so I've got to go.
I'll give you an update about things happening in our lives that's more exciting tomorrow, I promise!
Hope you have a good day! Lucy and I get to hang out today and have fun and let me tell you, I'm looking forward to this mother-daughter day!